New Land Rover Range Rover Evoque To Participate in 2013 Dakar Rally

The 2013 Dakar Rally, which takes place in South America, will include a trio of will arguably be the best looking racers to enter the event. A British team is prepping the new 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque for the grueling race.

Excite Rally Raid, Britain's first professional Dakar team, is working with RaBe Race Cars to produce three Evoque rally racers. The new Rover may have good looks, but it's also a highly capable off-roader in stock form. RaBe Race Cars will increase the Evoque's off-road cred by swapping in the 3.0-liter, 271-hp, turbocharged diesel engine from BMW; It will be mated to a ZF-sourced, six-speed automatic transmission. Other features include BF Goodrich desert tires, a Reiger coilover suspension, and a 69-gallon fuel tank. The company will produce three vehicles for the race.

"We've been working on this project for a long time," said Excite Rally Raid business manager David Jones. "We were approached by a manufacturer, RaBe Race Cars, whose staff has been around the sport for a long time. Seeing our professional approach, they asked if we could work together. We have goals we can assist each other with, so we have now set our sights a bit higher."